What's inside the QR code menu at this cafe?
What's inside the QR code menu at this cafe?
tales from indian web rabbit holes. Click to read Pea Bee, by peabee, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.
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The main event here was pretty interesting, but I'd just like to say that
It asked me for my name and Whatsapp mobile number.
Why not just the mobile number. Do they also operate drive-ins that only accept BMWs?
In certain places like India, WhatsApp is the default means of communication for everyone.
You can use it without phone data if you are on wifi, it supports better quality than sms for sending images, you can video chat with it, it's cross platform, etc etc.What's more amazing to me is that it's not more popular in western countries.
It's the most common communication tool for friends and family in much of europe
unfortunately.. noone seems to stop and think for a second why Meta would maintain an infrastructure/team, spending millions upon millions to provide a service that seemingly has no monetization built-in.
I know it's dominant, but it just sucks. To go back to the previous analogy, Whatsapp should have a monopoly on communication as much as BMW should have a monopoly on transportation.
Gonna be honest I'd much prefer Signal to take off in this regard. In the US iMessage is the closest widely excepted equivalent, but if I'm gonna do WiFi IM, I want to know it is 100% verifiably private. Otherwise I might as well be using SMS/MMS.
I agree and use Signal myself.
But people like the extra features of WhatsApp like desktop/web clients with seamless history sync and all the other little things that WhatsApp provides.
The average Joe doesn't even think about security or privacy, they just know that the results of using WhatsApp are superior than using SMS.
iMessage is a non starter everywhere out of the US, it just doesn't have the market penetration.
As an Australian, no one I know (many of whom own iPhones) talk about the blue-green bubble stuff.
They recognise where the fault lies and simply don't use the app.I know the average Joe doesnt care about security/privacy but, ugh. Really wish we did. Society (at least in the US, where I am) might be a bit less shit if they did. I'm glad to hear that iMessage is a flash in the pan in other countries though, I dont understand why its such a big deal here, especially when Signal/WhatsApp exists and provides a similar seemless experience across more than one platform, but then again you'd hear me complaining about Meta if I lived anywhere else in the world so, really a lose lose for me :(
I have a friend group that insist on all events being planned through facebook.
I've missed out on events in the past due to not taking part.
It's no longer a hill I wish to die on.